Vietnam’s exports of agricultural, forestry, and fisheries products grew 27.1% year-on-year to US$3.49 billion in January.

Rubber was the best performer in the opening month of the year, following on from its uptrend last year and totalling 200,000 tonnes worth US$321 million, increases of 2.2-fold and 2.4-fold, respectively, year-on-year.

Shipments of key forestry products totalled US$1.33 billion, up 47.8% year-on-year. Exports of wood and timber products alone reached US$1.25 billion, up 48.4%.

Fisheries exports rose 19.6% to about US$600 million, following repeated declines last year, especially after the outset of COVID-19.

Prawn exports experienced the highest growth last year among all fisheries items, up 11% to US$3.7 billion.

Several major export earners, meanwhile, declined in January, including rice, fruit and vegetables, coffee, and pepper.

The country exported around 280,000 tonnes of rice for US$154 million in the month, down 29.5% and 20.2%, respectively, from a year earlier.

A similar trend was seen in fruit and vegetables, with shipments reaching just US$260 million, a year-on-year decline of 7.6%.